also if Apple launches the new iTab in the next few weeks to grab the spotlight away from Windows.

Nothing personal Alfiejr, but enough already with the iTab .... you guys are driving me crazy (and I don't have far to go). If, and when, Apple introduces the "new iTab", I'll be more than happy to discuss it but for now, at least, could we just stop talking about a product that doesn't even exist yet ..... on every freakin thread even . P.S. Personally, I don't think Apple will ever "come out with an iTablet", but more than likely will just expand the iPod touch's role ... we'll see.

Blowing out another person's candle does not make our candle burn brighter - author unknown

correct. about 3/4 of consumers can't afford to spend over $1000 for a laptop or desktop. so nearly all buy PC's, except for Apple fans. but the other 1/4 can and Mac gets a big share of that market. they can afford more Apple accessories too.

That's OK.
In a few years Apple will have 1/4 of the computer market and 90% of the profits.
Same thing is happening in the cellphone market.
Apple has enough casheesh on hand to buy every share of DELL.
So does it really matter that they sell more computers?

macs are still to expensive for the average customer. When the new macbook pros and recently the imacs came out, sales at my work were pretty much the same as any other day. today windows 7 was released and we were over 300% of budget for pcs.... what does this say i wonder....

Judging from the "content" of your "First post" ... I'd have to believe it says you work for MS.. bye bye!

Blowing out another person's candle does not make our candle burn brighter - author unknown

The broken promises ad I saw on TV, awesome. If anything that hit home probably with a lot of ppl.

The others, eh, not so much.

I agree. "Broken Promises" works the best, the others seem rushed. The subtle humor in the early ads seems to have evaporated in favor of a sledgehammer approach. They should kill these ads until they can get some solid new approaches locked down.

My new quad core PC I just built (720 bucks total assembled by me) would blow the hinges off the new iMac and now with Windows 7 the argument about Mac having a better os has been squashed (not that it was really any better in my eyes).

As usual, that is just your opinion (which, btw is your right to have one) .... but since you don't own, or have actually compared a new iMac ... then your opinion is meaningless .

Quote:

Originally Posted by ifail

Don't knock it till you try it is all I'll say, and I personally know 12 people who upgraded to 7 alone, and since students can get 7 for 30 bucks with a school email, sales are going to be IMMENSE.

I agree that sales will probably be great, kinda hard not to be, when your customer base is maybe 8-10 times larger than Apple. But what you should be looking at instead of total sales is the sales trend ... and I'd be willing to bet that the present trend ( Apple marketshare increasing, MS decreasing) will still continue for a long time yet.

Blowing out another person's candle does not make our candle burn brighter - author unknown

My new quad core PC I just built (720 bucks total assembled by me) would blow the hinges off the new iMac and now with Windows 7 the argument about Mac having a better os has been squashed (not that it was really any better in my eyes).

You mean until it blue screens. The problem with Windows is it is too damn fragile. The whole premise of a registry is flawed. Every time you upgrade a piece of software you are at risk of screwing up your entire OS. Until they get that sorted out it will never be as problem free as a Mac is.

I think Windows is ok to work with and there was nothing really wrong with Win 2000 and I do have a bunch of win boxes. But they certainly break down A LOT! Sure, I get them up and running again but the Macs run 24/7 for years with NO issues whatsoever. Most 'off the shelf' PCs don't have the same quality hardware as a Mac. The power supplies have cheap components, the cpu and case fans are cheap and require constant replacement. If you are going to run Windows, building your own box is the way to go, but for $720 you didn't choose the highest quality components.

Originally Posted by ifail
My new quad core PC I just built (720 bucks total assembled by me) would blow the hinges off the new iMac and now with Windows 7 the argument about Mac having a better os has been squashed (not that it was really any better in my eyes).

yes that sounds believable
wait 6 months and do the same test, in your pc full of viruses and bloated registry
at least try linux if you want something usable

Where is this innovation you speak of? Last time Apple innovated was when they made the worlds first GUI, other than that they've been biting other peoples ideas just like MS has, so this is a weak argument.

I guess you weren't watching when they revolutionized the home computer industry by making an all in one machine that was super popular, an idea that many are still copying to this day!

I guess you weren't watching when they revolutionized the mp3 industry, with iPod, an idea that many are still trying to copy to this day. (think zune)

I guess you weren't watching when they revolutionized the smartphone industry with iPhone, an idea that many are still trying to copy to this day! (think everyone else)

I guess that you were still down in the basement, "working" on your "computer"!

Blowing out another person's candle does not make our candle burn brighter - author unknown

My Opinion
Windows is Unstable and requires to many resources to operate. Its good for playing games.
Its OK for the internet as long as you have good Virus protection.
That's my experience.

Will be trying OS X in 2010 and going to give it a try.
It would be nice to be able to use OS X on my PC, But I understand the reason I cant.
I will buy a new MBP in 2010 and hopefully enjoy the Apple experience. If not the I could sale the MBP and get back a large portion of the cost. Not something that can be done with the majority of Windows notebooks.

As far as Apple being scared of MS ?
I'm sure its the other way around as MS has more to lose. While Apple is gaining customers.

I was lead to believe that they were the company one looks to for 'innovation' -

Maybe it's time to approach matters from an 'more innovative' angle, as these absolutely 'reek' of an arrogance/smugness that only the 'already initiated' find the least bit appealing, and many others simply find off-putting.

I find it a bit disheartening, especially as the owner of several Macs, that Apple misleadingly makes it seem that 'moving' one's stuff' to a Mac is some simple task, when in fact it is not for many users.

The Windows platform/software library supports a vastly more diverse number of file formats/media codecs than the Mac ever will, so what does one do with all of the WMA/WMV etc media files that Mac stubbornly refuses to embrace... ?

What about all of those Windows programs (professional/educational/games even) that many have become accustomed to using that don't have Mac equivalents (and there are literally thousands of them)?

Won't these new 'Mac Movers' be relegated to using Windows (virtually) anyway?

As for the the one outlining 'Windows problems through the past', Apple seems to forget last month's 'Guest Account' fiasco, as well as several others related not only to Snow Leopard, but countless others Mac operating systems prior to OSX (OS 7.5 and others I remember well, as I was a Mac... and a PC, even back then).

These ads never tell the 'entire truth', and in the case of the ones featured in this blog entry - Seriously Reek of Desperation on Apple's Part.

I don't build PCs for other people just myself because I can't bothered to fix something some idiot broke surfing myspace or trying to wire money to Nigeria because then I'll tell them to take their stupidity and go buy an idiot proof computer.

That's great news because the closest thing to an idiot proof computer out there ..... is a Mac! Thanks for the support, buddy! btw, in all my years of surfing myspace (or other websites) I never broke my Mac .... is your problem related to all those viruses and things I keep hearing about? ... just askin'

Blowing out another person's candle does not make our candle burn brighter - author unknown

I went with my friend the other week to the Apple store so he could get a MBP and as soon as we left I asked him if he wanted to go to Starbucks. He didn't get it and asked why, and I told him that it's necessary for all Macbook owners to go to Starbucks and sit around with their Macs not doing anything just so people know that you have a Mac.

One last thing: I guess it makes sense that Mac users love Starbucks. It's overpriced, you can get better elsewhere for far less, and its oh so cool.

I went with my friend the other week to the apple store so he could get a MBP and as soon as we left I asked him if he wanted to go to Sarbucks.

Wow! You got a friend? ... Who knew? And your friend bought a MBP ... a smart friend to boot ... what is this world coming to?
btw ...is Sarbucks the PC equivalent to Starbucks, you know, a wannabe Starbucks kind of thing?

Blowing out another person's candle does not make our candle burn brighter - author unknown

Well first is your PC more quiet than the new iMac? Second, is your screen bigger than the iMac? Third, did your PC come with a wireless Magic Mouse and wireless keyboard? Fourth, is your PC environmentally friendly? Fifth, how long do you think your PC's lifetime will be? Personally I'm tired of naming things but hopefully I made my point.

To be honest I don't think they are very great adds. They are funny but I think more geeks and gadget nerds will understand their humor. Not only that but XP wasn't the version of windows everyone hated so most XP users will have an easy time choosing the new version of windows that has been getting only great reviews from hundreds of sources. One of the adds actually felt to me like a Windows add and not an Apple add aside from the fact that it said 'Mac' at the end. So I really don't know. Maybe Apple should come up with a new campaign.

The Windows platform/software library supports a vastly more diverse number of file formats/media codecs than the Mac ever will, so what does one do with all of the WMA/WMV etc media files that Mac stubbornly refuses to embrace... ?

VLC can be had for both mac and pc. WMP doesn't play .mov either, so why is Apple the only stubborn one? .h264 doesn't even play in Windows Media Player without downloading an additional codec....

As for additional file formats. OS X supports more out of the box. Have an iso? OSX will mount it, Windows needs a third party mounter. Get a .rar file? OSX can expand it. Windows needs you to download winrar or something similar. Apple has been including pdf and flash support built into the OS forever. etc etc. But maybe you meant that it doesn't support .exe files...

I've had Windows 7 on my MBP since the day after the RC came out for public use, and I gotta say I do quite like it, but after playing around with it for half an hour, I booted back into OSX and haven't touched it since July when I was playing Crysis on it. For gaming it's still no comparison - Windows any day of the week. For how little I play games, $30 for Windows 7 on a 20GB partition is worth it if I decide to pay for it, but I play games so rarely now I never see a point into booting to Windows, I just feel "at home" in OSX. I've used Windows machines since I was a toddler, I've only used OSX since January.

Wow! You got a friend? ... Who knew? And your friend bought a MBP ... a smart friend to boot ... what is this world coming to?
bty ...is Sarbucks the PC equivalent to Starbucks, you know, a wannabe Starbucks kind of thing?

And the best thing is that his friend "didn't get it". In other words, that stereotype is just that, as stereotype.

The point im trying to make is that for every os, regardless of win vs osx, theyre supposed to be better than the last. Don't tell me OSX hasn't been plagued by bugs or else we wouldn't be at 10.5 now would we.

And in Mac each version is better than the last ... not our problem if 80% of Vista users had to go back to XP. ... Actually, it's OS 10.6, not that your interested in facts or anything and what do you think .... that an OS is never supposed to evolve or something? OSX is about 10 years old ... of course ther are going to be newer versions.

Blowing out another person's candle does not make our candle burn brighter - author unknown

Opening a retail store is not ripping off Apple. Last time I checked Apple didn't invent retail stores. Clearly with Apple putting out three ads the week Windows 7 is release shows they are nervous about MS. Everyone knows Windows 7 is going to be a massive seller. It already is based on pre sales alone, not to mention the program that allows anyone with an (edu) email address to get Win 7 Pro for 29.99 as an upgrade.

Everyone in the world knows what Windows 7 is, can't say the same about Snow Leopard.

Apple however did create a distinct retail store design. A design that Microsoft did a bang up job of copying. I don't know if Apple is nervous about Windows 7 or not. They are achieving record mac sales right now, just released snow leopard and people upgrading from XP to 7 hurts them none. Apple is aware that their source of switchers are Windows users, so they would naturally target them. What better time than when many are considering a computer related purchase?

Apple however did create a distinct retail store design. A design that Microsoft did a bang up job of copying. I don't know if Apple is nervous about Windows 7 or not. They are achieving record mac sales right now, just released snow leopard and people upgrading from XP to 7 hurts them none. Apple is aware that their source of switchers are Windows users, so they would naturally target them. What better time than when many are considering a computer related purchase?

I've just come from shopping at manchester's trafford park,uk. Popped in the apple store to be told no magic mice for 2 weeks and saw 3 macbook pro sales & 2 imac sales within 5 minutes.

Can you please explain to me, with this slew of terrible releases why Windows holds a 95% market share

Here, I'll try to dumb it down for you.

If I build an OS that is designed to go only on machines that I make and you design an OS to go on every freakin' machine in the world, that guarantees two things.

1. you will outsell me every time ... more machines = more OS sales.

2. I will design a better OS, every time ... because I design "both gloves for the same set of hands".... hardware & software, whereas you have to dumb down your OS to run on every POS out there. Do you finally "get it"?

Blowing out another person's candle does not make our candle burn brighter - author unknown

I'm not sure people just switch. I am sure there are some people that decide to go from Windows to OSX then again I don't doubt some go from OSX to Windows. Most surveys show people use both. Only about 15% of all Apple users have all Apple hardware, 85% have a Windows system.

IMHO everyone should use both if they can afford to because I feel its stupid to be blindly loyal to one product. No one likes attack ads it turns people off in politics and this is no different. At first the ads were funny now they are just childish, not to mention a waste of money.

All good points from a computer geek perspective. But these ads are not targeted towards you/us. In particular the women in two the of the ads want something dependable, safe, easy, stylish and that is the message.

I guess you weren't watching when they revolutionized the home computer industry by making an all in one machine that was super popular, an idea that many are still copying to this day!

2 years before Apple I:
3 months before Apple I (note the built in tape deck):

Quote:

Originally Posted by newbee

I guess you weren't watching when they revolutionized the mp3 industry, with iPod, an idea that many are still trying to copy to this day. (think zune)

2 Years Before iPod:
3 Years Before iPod:

See also about 100 other portable MP3 players released prior to iPod.

Quote:

Originally Posted by newbee

I guess you weren't watching when they revolutionized the smartphone industry with iPhone, an idea that many are still trying to copy to this day! (think everyone else)

Released January 22, 2007 in Japan (5 months before iPod in USA), the world's first 100% touchscreen phone. It was announced in mid 2006 and was the first LG/Prada phone (I know, it wasn't anywhere near as good as an iPhone, but the concept was innovative):
Actually, this phone was part of a larger lineup of very early LG touchscreen devices, all of which were epic fails. Included the LG touchscreen internet fridge, and LG touchscreen internet dishwasher.

Popularizing an idea doesn't mean innovation.

That's not to say Apple hasn't been an innovator. Here are some things I would call Apple innovations:

-Graphical GUI.

-Marketing computers aesthetically, not just technically.

-Maybe the click wheel?

-Closed Hardware-Software ecosystem (which has been vital to avoiding anti-trust lawsuits which have plagued microsoft, and the ability to market based on aesthetics.)

I know there are lots more, but let's face it, no single company is responsible for all the innovation in the industry, or even a large percentage of it, as much as fanboys on all sides would like you to believe.

you really love spelling out my name - don't you?
It's too early to play "catch the annoymouse" game.
Pathetic is when you need to attack a product that's not even 24 hours old! SJ must be going nuts now- his worst nightmare: A Microsoft OS that has universally received rave reviews and all the PC manufacturers ramping up behind it. Oh well 10% was good while it lasted. Apple was a better company anyway when it had 5-7 % market share.

TeckDud, you disappoint me, you re-appeared after such a short change of heart. Oh well, I was warned. Tell you what, 'tho, I will save your comments for future reference and will check back with you after Apple's next record breaking quarter ... shouldn't take long.

Blowing out another person's candle does not make our candle burn brighter - author unknown

Stylish is far more important to long time Apple users. Windows users are not big on AIO's thats why ones made by Sony, HP, Dell and Gateway do not do well. The HP Smarttouch is actually a pretty nice machine but it doesn't sell well.

Even if the ads are targeted at women or seniors my point was it would be rare for an Mac to be the only machine in a household. Most people simply have software they use that the Mac does not offer.

Apple talks out of both side of their face. As much as they try to say you can make a 100% swtich with no problem, in the next sentence the sales rep is telling someone you can also install Windows via bootcamp. Installing Window is a point of sale for many reps in Apple stores.

Again just way too technical for a 15 sec TV commercial. This is marketing not computer science. Of course a really experienced computer user might run windows on a mac and have multiple computers but what we are seeing in these ads is more of the mass market strategy. Back to school, christmas season, novice users, etc, not head to head comparisons with disclaimers. Just think of it as a Budwieser commercial. Bud may not be as hard core as Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale but it appeals to a wide segment of the beer drinking population.